The Photonic Service Engine (PSE) chip, which is designed for fibre-optic networks, aims to offer double the capacity and four times the speeds of today’s industry standard.
Alcatel-Lucent claims that PSE will allow more than 23 Terabits to be transmitted along a single optical fibre, enhancing performance by 50% while reducing power consumer per gigabit by a third. PSE is also described as highly configurable, allowing adjustments by operators to produce the best performance in varying conditions on the field.
The PSE chip can be deployed on metro, regional, and ultra-long haul networks, transmitting wavelengths over existing or additional photonic lines. It has been designed specifically for use in the Alcatel-Lucent’s portfolio of line cards which are used in over 120 networks around the world.
A recent report conducted by research group, Ovum found that Alcatel-Lucent was the market leader in 100G optical solutions with a 69% market share. With this latest announcement, it would appear that other vendors will still be playing catch up for faster network speeds.
“The introduction of the Alcatel-Lucent 400G Photonic Service Engine is the latest example of how we are continuing to develop leading technology and leverage innovations from Bell Labs to redefine ‘state-of-the-art’ in optical networking and keep our customers ahead of the game,” said James Watt, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Optics Division.
PSE technology was recently tested at Deutsche Telekom’s T-Labs and Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs and the trial broke a transmission distance record on optical networks. This included the first 522Gbps transmission over a single wavelength, with signals sent over a distance of 734km between Hanover and Berlin, and a quadrupling of capacity.
